Collins | 'There’s still a lot left to play for'

Nathan Collins believes the Wolves squad has enough quality and fight inside themselves to move up the Premier League table once the season resumes following the World Cup.

Despite Wolves heading into the break propping up the league standings, the defender has praised the effort and commitment of his teammates since Steve Davis and James Collins took on the reins, and feels they can improve even further once they are working under new head coach Julen Lopetegui.

On Davis’ final game in charge

“They’ve taken on a tough job, and it wasn’t easy for them, but Steve and James have come in and helped us, they’ve worked hard with us, and I can’t thank them enough.

“We showed hard work, we showed what they wanted from us and if we can work on that, then we’ll be fine.

“I think we defended a bit too much. We probably could have got control on the game and our foot in the game a bit more, because we have the ability and I know confidence might be a bit low, but for future, we know that we can defend as a team, and we know we can counter that, so we can change our ways, which is good.”

On first conversations with Lopetegui

“He’s been in, but he hasn’t spoken to us yet as a group. He said he wanted to leave Steve and James to it with their final game, because they’ve worked hard and they deserved this. He’s just been saying hello and asking how we are, as he was trying to keep out of the way as much as possible, but I’ll see him in a few weeks.

“I don’t know a lot about him, but you just look at his CV and it’s a great one, so I’m really looking forward to working with him. I think it’ll be good and I’ll enjoy it.

“He wouldn’t have taken this job if he didn’t believe he could get us out of this. He knows how good this squad is, he knows the ability of the squad, he sees that and he knows as a squad the work that will can put in. That’s the main thing. And once we buy into him, we’ll be sound.”

On plenty of games remaining

“I’m heading out for some internationals and then I’ll be back here straight away, but once we’re back in, we’ll be going again and we have to get the attitude right.

“There’s at least another 25 games to play, so there’s still a lot left to play for, so we’ve got to go again.”

On restarting from the bottom

“I’ve been there before and I’ve seen what can happen and how much it can change at the bottom of the table, so I’m just giving my experience to the team and there’s nothing to be worried about. I have to use my experience and pass my message on.

“We’ve got to fight as a team, as I know with the ability we’ve got, we can do it. Then we’ve got to buy into the manager and let him do his work with us.

“The mentality in the group is there and the teamwork is there. I think it was there at the start of the season, and we lost it a little bit, but we’re getting that back again now and, as a group, we know what we need to do to come back.

“I don’t think we’ve got to make it a scrap. We’ve got to play our games, play our way and with the new gaffer coming in, I think that’s what’s going to happen.”

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